On Saturday, May 3, Options for Women had their annual Walk for Life fundraiser in Concord, starting and ending at Concord Bible Church.

According to Options for Women of California (OFW), there were 169 walkers, and the event raised $38, 000. Twenty local churches partnered with the walk.

OFW is a non-profit abortion alternative provider or crisis pregnancy center which has been in the area since 1984. Their services are free, and they include STD testing, pregnancy verification and ultrasounds, counseling, connecting women to resources, and post-abortion retreats.

OFW organized its first walk 25 years ago. The walk is still not very wide scale, with up to 200 walkers, and up to $50,000 raised annually. Walkers raise funds by asking people whom they know to sponsor them.

Blayne Wittig, Client Services Director at OFW, said that they approach women with love and let them know they always have a place to come.

"We respect them," she said, "and this helps us to influence them to make the right decision. If we save the mom we can save the baby, because mom makes the decisions. If the mother needs help in understanding relationships we connect her to certified counselors. If she needs financial support we help her to get items like a crib and children's clothing. After establishing a relationship we share the Gospel with these women. Recently, we had a 24-year-old girl coming to us with her 10-month-old baby. She said that she decided to go forward to giving birth after our counseling."

OFW attracts pregnant women by avoidance of political aspect of being pro-life. They believe that abortion-minded women can be persuaded not to abort only when there is nothing for them be defensive about. Therefore their walk is very calm, with no anti-abortion slogans.

For the same reason, OFW doesn't participate in a bigger Walk for Life that takes place in San Francisco in January, since 2005. This is a rally to protest the "Roe v. Wade" anniversary and to eliminate it from American society. They base on a belief that governmental intrusion is necessary to protect those helpless to protect themselves, even from their own mothers. Most of the walkers are Christians, and their motive is to encourage people to abbey God's commandments, including the one "Thou shalt not kill."

The divisions between pro-life and pro-choice movements start at differing belief systems. There are many facts surrounding the developing fetus, and with the progress of ultrasound technology, brain activity of the fetus can be discovered on earlier and earlier stage of his development. In our Internet age, this is all available to anyone, but, in the end, it seems to come down on what people choose to believe. Though, if a soon-to-be aborted baby had a chance to chose between life and death, he would certainly choose life, as it was shown in the movie "The Silent Scream," by Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D. from New York. The movie displays the real videotape of the ultrasound screen during an abortion, when the baby is anxiously moving in the uterus and silently screaming in his efforts to escape.

Since 1973, when abortion in the U.S. became legal, almost 57 million of babies have been aborted. Many women, though, regret their abortion afterward, including a woman in her 50s, who lives in Martinez, CA. Anonymously, she told the story of her abortion back in 1988.

"My husband suddenly died, and I was left with my three-year-old daughter, pregnant with my second child for two months. I didn't want an abortion at all, but I was constantly pressured by all my relatives: 'How are you going to raise two children with no husband?' I couldn't find support in anybody. When my pregnancy was over three months, I went to an abortionist. The surgery was painful for me both physically and emotionally. I was going through shock, and wanted to talk to no one.

I've really been regretting my abortion for whole my life. If I were pregnant now instead of back then, I would definitely give birth. There are a couple things that I'd recommend young women think about: abortion will always be on your conscience, and you'll never forget it; any surgery is hard for your health, and after abortion you may experience health issues, especially getting pregnant again. After all, this is your child, and he's already living, but you're giving permission to deprive him of his life."

This is why OFW and organizations like them exist -- to provide the care needed, save lives of unborn babies and protect women from a traumatic abortion experience. They don't receive any governmental financing, and their annual walk is their most important fundraising event. They motivate people to help by telling them, "Someone's life is depending on you."